The First Disco

October 19, 1959 - On this night in Aachen, Germany, a local restaurant reopened as a dancehall. Unlike other dancehalls of the day, the Scotch Club would not feature live music. Instead, the owner put in a record player - and the modern discotheque was born!

Things got off to a lousy start, as the opening night crowd milled about the dance hall. A local journalist named Klaus Quirini was bored out of his skull so he took over the record player and started spinning tunes and injecting his comments between the songs. The place went nuts!

Another disco-ism that originated at the Scotch Club was the waiting line. The place was so popular that patrons lined up out front waiting to get in. The overwhelming demand allowed the doormen to be picky and a dress code was strictly enforced.

Grammy and Oscar-winning record producer, Giorgio Moroder began his career as a DJ at the Scotch Club.